Hospital visitation rights are human rights

Anyone who is admitted to a hospital for an emergency or must stay for an extended period of time deserves the right to have the person who cares for them most at their bedside.

In the past, same-sex couples were not allowed visits from their partners when in the hospital. Thanks to President Barack Obama, hospitals will begin to allow visitation rights for gay and lesbian partners. All hospitals accepting Medicare and Medicaid funding, which includes most hospitals in the United States, will now allow patients to receive the support of their partners when they need it most, regardless of sexual orientation.

On April 15, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) directing HHS to create rules that would prevent hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments from denying visitation rights to partners of gay and lesbian patients. The rule will allow patients themselves to decide who can visit them. The memo also directs HHS to study the problems gays and lesbians face in obtaining healthcare.

By putting this rule into effect, President Barack Obama is making an honorable move on a pressing gay rights issue. Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group in the United States, applauded President Barack Obama’s decision.  According to a blog post on  HRC President Joe Solmonese said, “Discrimination touches every facet of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including at times of crisis and illness, when we need our loved ones with us more than ever.”

President Barack Obama’s decision to change the policy on gay and lesbian visitation rights was inspired by a case in 2007 in which a lesbian woman was denied the ability to visit her partner while she lay dying in a hospital.

Lesbian couple Lisa Pond and Janice Langbehn embarked on a cruise with their three adopted children when Pond suffered an aneurysm, beginning a long series of tragic events for the Langbehn-Pond family. According to The Langbehn-Pond family’s official website, Langbehn and her children were forbidden from being at Pond’s side while she lay dying, being told by a social worker that they were in an anti-gay state.

In a speech given at the Hollywood Roosevelt on October 13, 2007, Langbehn said, “It is a reality that someone can leave this earth completely alone even though their loved ones are just 20 feet away. No family should have endured what we did that night in Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital.”

Despite the great tragedy of Langbehn’s experience, her story along with dozens of speeches and support from gay rights groups played a major part in ensuring visitation rights for gays and lesbians.

The ability for one to be in the company of loved ones when in a hospital is a basic human right that should never be denied for any reason. Putting this new rule into effect, President Barack Obama is taking a great step in securing not only gay and lesbian rights, but basic human rights themselves.